


Everything Has Changed

by thelastgreatamericandynasty



Category: Outer Banks (TV)
Genre: Angst, F/M, JJ (Outer Banks) Needs a Hug, JJ Has Feelings for Kiara But He Doesn't Know What to do About It, John B's pov, Kiara Has Feelings For JJ (Outer Banks), Kiara is Mad at John B, M for language/themes, Post Season 1, Sarah knows everything, and fluff but mainly Angst, author is writing fics instead of studying for finals, jj had feelings for john b too u cannot convince me otherwise, kie comforting jj, past john b having feelings for jj if u squint, time jump just a little, tw for slight alcoholism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-07
Updated: 2020-12-07
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:33:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,614
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27943073
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thelastgreatamericandynasty/pseuds/thelastgreatamericandynasty
Summary: everything changes when sarah and john b are in the bahamas
Relationships: JJ/Kiara (Outer Banks)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 49





	Everything Has Changed

When John B and Sarah got back from the Bahamas, everything felt the exact same as they left it, but at the same time worlds different. It felt more like time had frozen in the Outer Banks, while time only moved too fast in the Bahamas. When they finally got back, it was months of meetings and court dates that finally ended with Sarah’s dad and brother locked up and a lot of money in the Pogues’ pockets.

Life moved on. Everything was the same, but everything was different, too.

The lady at the docks that knew John B’s dad when he was a kid still pat his cheek when he walked past her and handed him a bag of chips. Parts of The Cut still had no power from Agatha, even though it had been a year. John B’s room at the Chateau was just as he left it, but the rest of the place was cleaner than he had ever seen it, with the fridge full of food only Kiara would fill it with, and new linens in the kitchen and the bathroom – all sustainable. Big John’s old room had been fully converted to JJ’s room, the closet filled with a jumble of clothing that John B recognized as JJ’s, his own, Pope’s, and a few of Kie’s things on one side. JJ had taken everything down from the walls so they were all bare except for one photo of the four Pogues, along with the postcards from Vlad and Val. The dishes were clean, and the bathroom seemed to actually be functioning (he later found out that the only way Kie’s dad let her stay at the Chateau was if he knew they had running water, so he came and fixed it himself). There were plants around the house and a small cactus succulent in the window in the kitchen.

The biggest difference was the lack of Pope, which John B noted immediately. He wasn’t _not_ there, he just wasn’t there quite as often as he used to be, always having excuses about working for his dad and college things he had to make up for running away from. John B didn’t miss the hardness in Kiara’s eyes or JJ looking at the floor every time an excuse was brought forward. He confronted Kiara about it as soon as he could, one night when Sarah and JJ had both gone to sleep and the two of them were still sitting around the fire.

“He wasn’t here,” Kiara had said carefully. “We kissed. After you and Sarah left. It was weird. I wasn’t thinking straight, I don’t think he was either. We talked it out and I _thought_ we were on the same page about everything but I don’t know if he really sorted everything out on his end. He’s come over almost every weekend, but during the week it’s just been excuse after excuse. I know his dad had him on house arrest at the beginning, but now I think it’s just weird. The dynamic was off when he stopped coming over for a few weeks. JJ was a wreck.”

The conversation led to John B asking what really happened when they were gone, Kiara ranting about how much of a mess JJ was, getting drunk or high every day to the point where he couldn’t stand by 5pm, finally breaking down about three weeks in when Kiara had enough and convinced her parents to let her move into the Chateau, and the two of them started to clean it up and revamp the place. She said it was easier for both of them when they had something to do, whether it was clean or fix things. They went to JJ’s dad’s house after watching it for a week so they would know when it was safe to go, and they brought back all of JJ’s things in one trip. When they finally got the postcard, Kie said it was the first time JJ had smiled in weeks.

It was quiet after that. They watched the fire; Kiara was playing with the friendship bracelets on her arm. John B was poking at the fire when Kie finally spoke again.

“I just want you to know something, John B.” She was looking off in the distance, and she had the look on her face that JJ used to call her ‘Mama Pogue’ face, or one she put on before talking about human rights. “I don’t care what you do, but you better show that boy that you would take a bullet for him because I can’t count on one hand the number of times JJ risked his life for yours. I know you were caught up with Sarah. But fucking hell, while you were off being romantic and having the time of your life, he almost died and it could’ve been his own fault or his dad’s and you didn’t even bat an eye. JJ would follow you into hell without a second thought, and I bet he didn’t even notice you not paying attention to him because that’s what he’s used to. When I say you better thank him and be there for him always, I fucking mean it, John B. Understand?”

John B had never been the most observant person, but he understood a lot more than what she had told him that night. He noticed it when she stepped out of JJ’s room to say good morning to him and make herself tea to bring back to his room, acting like the conversation they had the night before hadn’t even happened, acting like she wasn’t stepping out of his best friend’s bedroom in one of his t-shirts. He noticed it when she insisted that she wanted to make the five of them dinner one night and JJ sat on the kitchen counter and just talked to her while she worked around the kitchen, occasionally doing something if she asked him to or taking bits of food from what she was making, and she didn’t even tell him off for it. Noticed it when he realized with a pang that the level of physical affection JJ used to reserve for him, just comfortable hugs or leaning, was now only reserved for Kiara. When he realized the calendar with dog pictures on the fridge stayed blank except for the five Pogues’ birthdays unless JJ drank and a dot would show up mysteriously.

It was different, but John B could work with different.

* * *

The level of difference John B _couldn’t_ work with comes when they are eighteen, after they’ve graduated high school, and they’re almost too relaxed, to the point of suspicion. Pope sorted out whatever he needed to sort out with Kiara and JJ, John B had gotten a lot better at observing everyone instead of just the person in front of him, and they were all about as normal as they could be.

JJ and Kiara are closer than ever before; John B, Sarah, and Pope have a bet going on when they will finally get together. John B knows JJ’s been in love with Kie since forever, and Sarah keeps her mouth shut but he knows she talks to Kiara about her feelings for JJ, and they aren’t just platonic. The bet was placed one night at the Boneyard when Pope found the two of them farther down the beach dancing to some Jack Johnson song playing from JJ’s phone. John B doesn’t remember when he started to refer to his dad’s old bedroom as JJ and Kie’s.

Things take a turn when the five of them go out for a day on the Pogue one ninety-degree July day. They don’t take alcohol with them anymore – JJ’s been alcohol sober for seven months – but there’s always a couple of blunts rolled and ready. They fish, play music, swim, dance, Kie and Pope read at the back of the boat while JJ takes a nap with his head in Kie’s lap, and everything is just about as normal as it can get. They cook the fish they caught for dinner and Kiara makes a huge salad that she, Sarah, and Pope force John B and JJ to eat. They sit around the fire and crack jokes until the middle of the night; John B leaves JJ and Kiara lying in the hammock around one in the morning.

John B wakes up to Sarah running her fingers through his hair and asking him to go get her a glass of water and Tylenol since she always has massive headaches after smoking. He walks out of their room and notices JJ and Kie’s door open, pushes it slightly, and sees the bed still made and everything left untouched.

“Were JJ and Kie planning on doing something today?” John B asks Sarah as he hands her the Tylenol and water.

“Not that I know of. Why?”

“They aren’t in their room and it doesn’t even look like they made it there last night,” he says.

“Have you checked outside? They probably just fell asleep on the hammock again.”

John B heads outside to check the hammock and finds JJ lying on his back in the hammock, four empty beer bottles on the ground next to him, blowing smoke circles up in the air.

“Hey, bud,” John B says when he gets close enough, trying to keep the obvious concern out of his voice. “What are you doing?”

JJ grunts. “What time is it?”

“Ten. In the morning.”

“Shit.”

“What happened? Where’s Kie?”

“Fuck if I know. I’m going to bed. Don’t bother me unless dinner’s ready.”

John B watches him walk back up to the Chateau, watches him stumble in a way he hadn’t seen in months, watches the screen door slam behind him, and pulls his phone out of his pocket to call Kiara.

“Hey, John B,” she picks up on the second ring.

“Hey, it’s JJ. He drank last night and something's wrong, can you come over?”

“I’m working. Just force him to drink some water and eat something; he’ll sleep it off,” she hangs up abruptly.

John B stares at his phone for a minute, texts Pope to come over, and walks inside, throwing the empty beer bottles in the recycling bin Kiara put beside the house. When he walks inside, Sarah’s making coffee in the kitchen and the fridge is bare - the calendar in the trash.

“What happened?” She asks.

“They’re fighting. I don’t know what about. Pope’s coming over.”

Kiara comes over that night for dinner; she and JJ don’t say a word to each other and everything feels off. They start a movie and she leaves as it’s starting, claiming that she has to go to bed early so she can open The Wreck in the morning, and JJ’s eyes are on the door for ten minutes after she leaves before he stands and walks to his room, locking the door behind him.

“What the hell happened?” Pope asks.

“I have no fucking clue. I hope it doesn’t last long, though, because it’s barely been a day and I can’t take much longer of this,” John B says.

* * *

It lasts a week.

Kiara never sleeps over, but she’s at the Chateau every night for dinner, either bringing leftovers from The Wreck or cooking with Pope. She and JJ don’t say a word to each other and she’s gone before 10pm every night.

JJ’s more irritable than ever, he’s not drinking, but getting high every day and refuses to talk about what happened to anyone.

The day they finally break is the day that John B takes Sarah out for the day on the Pogue and Pope’s working. The two of them left a note the morning of to tell JJ where they were going since he was still asleep when they left. When they finally get back, Sarah freezes, staring at John B with wide eyes, grabbing his arm. She puts a finger to her lips and points to the Chateau, where yelling’s coming from inside.

“You don’t want this, Kie, I promise–” JJ sounds exhausted.

“You don’t know what I want – you can’t tell me what I want.”

“I can tell you that you don’t fucking want someone who grew up as their dad’s punching bag. I can tell you that you’re scared when I get angry because you think I’m going to hit you, just like he did!”

“I have never thought you were going to hit me. Ever. You are not your dad. When are you going to get it through your thick fucking skull that you do not need to prove anything to me? You are _not_ your dad, J, you are your own person and I know exactly who that is!” Kie’s yelling and John B hasn’t heard her so upset since he’s known her.

“I’m literally turning into him, Kiara, don’t pretend you can’t see it! I can’t even stay sober for more than six months, I always relapse!”

“That’s completely okay, JJ, it’s completely normal–”

“Do _not_ tell me that. If I can’t even stay sober for more than six months how the fuck am I supposed to keep you?” 

“I think this is our cue to leave,” Sarah whispers, leading John B back to the boat as quietly as possible.

\---

“So, she finally told him how she feels and JJ won’t accept it,” Pope clarifies.

“Yup. And we will not be telling them we heard them yelling. Pay up, boys,” Sarah says. They're at Heyward's, helping Pope stock the store.

“That’s not fair, Kie probably told you she was going to tell him so you knew she would admit it first,” John B says.

“I swear she didn’t. She wouldn’t even tell me what was going on this week and I asked every day. I just knew she was going to be the one to say it first. JJ’s loved her for years, and he’s always flirting with her, she would never take it seriously.”

“This still feels unfair,” Pope says as he hands Sarah a $20 bill. She takes it and puts it in her pocket, also taking money from a grumbling John B.

When they all go to the Chateau that night for dinner, there’s an unopened six-pack of beer on the counter and JJ and Kie are asleep on the porch couch, JJ has tear stains running down his face and he’s tucked into Kie’s chest.

John B makes sure to tread lightly the next couple of days, as do Sarah and Pope. JJ and Kiara act as if nothing happened and they’re touchier than they were to begin with; JJ can’t keep his hands off of Kie, and she’s back to sleeping over at the Chateau every night. The calendar makes a reappearance on the fridge, but this time it's pictures of sea creatures. Pope swears up and down that he saw them kissing on the hammock after the others had gone back to the Chateau for the night.

No one says anything to them for two weeks before John B can’t stand it any longer and asks if they’re together while they’re out surfing one day. Sarah sighs and flicks him on the shoulder.

“Who, us?” JJ points between him and Kiara.

“No, the other people – of course, he’s talking about you, you dipshit,” Pope deadpans.

“Oh. Hell yeah,” JJ smirks.

Kie scoffs but lets him put his arm around her, smiling at the others.

John B makes the decision right there, while they’re all sat in a circle on the sand that, yeah, maybe everything _has_ changed. But, maybe it’s for the better.

**Author's Note:**

> title is from "everything has changed" by taylor swift ft. ed sheeran
> 
> hope u enjoyed this brain dump, i wrote it instead of studying for finals or starting my research paper i have due in 2 days. i only edited it once so if there's a mistake please do not be afraid to tell me (: 
> 
> if u are reading this instead of studying for finals, go study! this will be here when u finish. and good luck.


End file.
